The Rosary In Action is a reprint of a book originally published in the early 1950s. It was written by a Catholic layman who had served in World War I, and thus lived through both of the great conflicts which convulsed the twentieth century.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part is entitled, “The Message of the Rosary,” and in this the author gives his own personal experiences of praying and meditating on the rosary, as well as the historical background against which devotion to the rosary has spread since the thirteenth century.
A second longer part is entitled, “How to Say the Rosary,” and in this section, Johnson sets out some practical guidelines as to how best to do this, while the third, longest, part has meditations for each of the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries.
The author recounts how for a long time saying the rosary was something of a trial for him, something he persevered with because he was aware of its spiritual value rather than it being a devotional practice which he relished. This situation continued even after he joined the Legion of Mary in the 1930s, until he eventually realized that his mechanical saying of the rosary was leaving out the most important thing — that it is a prayer which should include mediation on the mysteries if it is to be truly effective.
Johnson outlines the historical background of the origins and growth of the rosary devotion, pointing out how it developed out of a number of traditional forms of prayer and devotion and only gradually assumed the form that it now has.
It is a devotion which is traditionally associated with St. Dominic, who is said to have personally received the rosary from our Lady for use in his work in helping to defeat the Albigensian heresy which ravaged southern France in the early thirteenth century.
Up to his time, beads had been used to keep track of the numbers of prayers said, and there had also been meditative exercises on the joys and sorrows of the Blessed Virgin. But these were not the rosary. As he says, “It is the enveloping sequence of meditation set into a pattern of vocal prayers told out on beads that makes the difference. This combination did not occur before St. Dominic…[but] it was not until the sixteenth century that the rosary took on the exact form it has today.”
Unfortunately, the time of peace which followed the defeat of the Albigensians — and which saw a great flowering of the Church, in terms of devotion, learning, and architecture — was followed in turn by the Black Death, which, starting in 1348, killed millions; and then, in 1378, by the Great Schism when Christendom was afflicted by rival claimants to the papacy.
The practice of the saying of the rosary suffered with all this upheaval, and it was necessary for our Lady to appear to Blessed Alan de la Roche, a French Dominican, in the first quarter of the fifteenth century, in order to prompt a rosary revival.
Johnson also outlines some of the historical incidents in which the praying of the rosary has played a leading part, including the victory at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 which saved European civilization from destruction, and the defeat of the Protestant Huguenots at La Rochelle in France in the early seventeenth century.
As he points out, the Church survived the Protestant revolt in the early sixteenth century, but the idea of Christendom itself was fatally weakened, even though it was a time of great missionary expansion, and particularly in the New World. Western society, though, has followed a steady path of spiritual decline, punctuated by revolutionary outbursts such as the French and Russian Revolutions, which have now left the world in its current perilous moral situation.
Writing in the 1950s, Johnson compared the Albigensian heresy of St. Dominic’s time with Communism; but the rosary is just as necessary today given that the “errors of Russia” foretold by Our Lady at Fatima — including divorce, abortion and the promotion of homosexuality — have now been absorbed by our own Western “culture of death,” and threaten to overwhelm what remains of the Christian moral law.
The second section, “How to Say the Rosary,” has some good practical points regarding meditating on the mysteries, and particularly about the necessity of going about this in a determined fashion. Johnson found the best way to pray the rosary was to name the mystery; make a few short pointed statements about it; and then draw some practical resolution from it.
By short pointed statements, the author means having a definite intention, a prayer we want answered through our Lady.
He then goes through the prayers of the rosary slowly, analyzing them phrase by phrase, so that the reader has a thorough understanding of them. Then he deals with meditation proper: He recommends acquiring pictures of the different mysteries so that we can study them. This can be done through suitable books, or nowadays via the Internet. He then says, “Study these pictures of the rosary mysteries until you have in your mind a definite mental image of the scene called up by the mere mention of the name of the mystery.”
Doing this, we avoid the danger of keeping the content of the mystery too much on the word level, which means it will not make a deep enough impression on us, which in turn means we will not make much progress in actually saying the rosary in a meditative way.
What really matters is that we should “make some kind of determined effort to penetrate into the meaning of the mysteries,” and that means reading the Bible accounts of Christ’s life and other books which describe the mysteries of the rosary, so that we have a storehouse of information the mind can call on when meditating. We should also “take what we see in the mysteries and apply them to our own lives, problems, needs, and conduct,” and be sure to ask for something out of each rosary we say.
The final part of The Rosary In Action, which actually comprises more than half of the book, is made up of a suggested outline of meditations, and then meditations on each mystery, which taken together, will certainly provide a wealth of material to make praying the rosary a much more meditative and fruitful process.
The end result of all this, of course, is that the rosary should be more effective in our own lives and prayed much more widely in the Church.
Johnson outlined what this would mean in the 1950s, when, after posing the question, “When, then, will the world grow better,” he said: “The very day when enough men set themselves to straightening out their lives from within . . . Communists . . . ill be converted. . . . This is the one great consolation of Fatima. When enough rosaries have been said there will be peace.”

Productive And Prayerful

This statement applies just as much to those opposed to the Church in our own day. We need to do what our Lady said at Fatima, and principally to pray the rosary every day in order to bring about peace in the world.
What gives this book special value is that it was authored by a layman who was writing about his own personal experience of trying to say the rosary more effectively, and so this is a down-to-earth work, and thus very practical.
In sum, this an excellent book on the rosary, which, if studied attentively, cannot fail to make our own saying of it far more productive, satisfying, and prayerful.

+ + +

(Donal Anthony Foley is the author of a number of books on Marian Apparitions, and maintains a related website at www.theotokos.org.uk. He has also written two time-travel/adventure books for young people — details can be found at: http://glaston-chronicles.co.uk/.)

Vatican City, Feb 17, 2018 / 05:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has reconfirmed Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston as head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, also reconfirming seven members…Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the Trump administration’s 2019 federal budget proposal on Monday, the U.S. Catholic bishops are urging for a budget that shows greater concern for “‘the least of these” and warning that the U.S. “must never seek…Continue Reading

A Connecticut high school student may have to decide whether to remove a Planned Parenthood sticker on her laptop or leave her Catholic school after administrators told her to remove it, her parents said. Sophomore Kate Murray’s parents told the Greenwich Time that…Continue Reading

February 8, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Bible’s condemnation of homosexual acts should be taken in “context” with Biblical times, Jesuit Father James Martin toldGeorgetown University students recently. Martin said as well that Catholics who support gay “marriage” should have no problem…Continue Reading

JACKSON, Mississippi, February 2, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A bill banning abortion on babies more than 15 weeks old passed the Mississippi state House today 79-31. House Bill 1510 would make Mississippi the state with the most pro-life laws if it…Continue Reading

Just three Democrats in the U.S. Senate supported a bill on Monday that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks when unborn babies are capable of feeling pain. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which has strong public support from Republicans…Continue Reading

ROME, January 30, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – In an exclusive interview two weeks after issuing a profession of immutable truths about sacramental marriage, Bishop Athanasius Schneider is inviting his brother bishops around the world to join in raising a common voice…Continue Reading

As Katholisch.de, the official website of the German bishops, reports today, Cardinal Willem Eijk, the Dutch cardinal and Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, requested that Pope Francis bring light into the confusion concerning the question as to how to deal with…Continue Reading

When Selena Miller, a practicing Catholic, applied to DePaul, she had no idea it was a Catholic university. Damita Meneves, another practicing Catholic, said she has met only one other Catholic student in her first year at DePaul. DePaul is…Continue Reading

His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, spoke recently with Thinking with the Church, hosted by Chris Altieri, who is also a regular contributor to Catholic World Report. Cardinal Burke responds to questions regarding the interpretation and reception of the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris…Continue Reading

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By DON FIER (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and Founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis., graciously took time out of his busy schedule to grant The Wanderer a wide-ranging interview during a recent visit to the Shrine. Included among the topics…Continue Reading

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke delivered the address below at the 32nd Annual Church Teaches Forum, “The Message of Fatima: Peace for the World,” Galt House, Louisville, Ky., July 22, 2017. The address is reprinted here with the kind permission of Cardinal Burke. All rights reserved. This is part one of the…Continue Reading

Catechism

Today . . .

There’s nothing, it seems, that the abortion chain Planned Parenthood won’t sue over. On Thursday, affiliates of the abortion chain in seven states sued the Trump administration for cutting funding for their questionable teen pregnancy prevention programs. The Daily Nonpareil reports the lawsuits argue that the Trump administration wrongly cut their funding prematurely and without cause. Nine groups, including Planned Parenthood affiliates in Washington, Iowa, North Carolina, South C

CAMBRIDGE, England, February 15, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A respected Catholic historian and philosopher challenged Cardinal Blase Cupich during a lecture last week about Pope’ Francis so-called “revolution of mercy” that has caused what many are defending as a “paradigm shift” in Catholic practice. Professor John Rist, after listening to a February 9 lecture at Cambridge Universityin which Cardinal Cupich praised Pope Francis’ “paradigm shift” in Catholic practice, asked the Cardinal at the end of the lect

VIENNA, Austria, February 14, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Austria’s bishops, led by Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, are indignant over a retired bishop’s passionate defense of Catholic teaching in opposing Church “blessings” for homosexual unions. After Bishop Andreas Laun, the retired Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, published Monday his strong rebuke of the German bishops for proposing to bless homosexual couples, there has been an inten

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago is all for clarity. It has been a consistent theme, as when in September of 2017 he issued a decree banning guns in all parishes, schools and other facilities across the archdiocese “so there would be absolute clarity on our position.” His official statement put “clarity” in italics. When he was bishop of Rapid City, he called for “civility and clarity” in discussing legislation that would limit abortion, but he…Continue Reading

BEIJING — A group of influential Catholics published an open letter Monday express their shock and disappointment at report that the Vatican could soon reach a deal with the Chinese government, warning that it could create a schism in the church in China. The Holy See has been in negotiations for several years with the Chinese Communist Party and is now belie

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Within a week of taking office on January 23, 2017, President Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, now called the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, which bans U.S. funding for abortions overseas. The expanded policy prohibits $9 billion in U.S. taxpayer money from funding foreign organizations that perform or…Continue Reading

By HANNAH BROCKHAUS VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) — The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved the second miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed Pope Paul VI, allowing his canonization to take place, possibly later this year. According to Vatican Insider, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved the miracle by a…Continue Reading

By STEPHEN M. KRASON (Editor’s Note: Stephen M. Krason’s Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic column appears monthly [sometimes bimonthly] in Crisis. He is professor of political science and legal studies and associate director of the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also cofounder and president of…Continue Reading

By LISA BOURNE (Editor’s Note: LifeSiteNews ran this story on February 5.) + + + A Catholic priest is calling on bishops to excommunicate the 14 Catholic-identifying U.S. senators who voted two weeks ago against banning late-term abortions. He is also calling on priests to deny the Catholic pro-abortion senators Holy Communion. “Today is the…Continue Reading

By JAMES LIKOUDIS The centuries-old theological debate concerning the existence of Limbo for unbaptized babies (the limbo puerorum as a state of natural happiness) led to the 2007 publication of the document The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized by the International Theological Commission (ITC). The commission concluded there are “serious…Continue Reading

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Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

By DON FIER For a variety of reasons (a defect of consent, a diriment impediment, or a defect of the required form), many supposed modern-day marriages entered into by Catholic persons are invalid from their origin in the eyes of God and the Church. However, as we saw last week, depending on the circumstances, the Church has procedures by which…Continue Reading

Q. Concerning what our Blessed Mother said in Fatima about the rosary, I am confused as to whether or not she meant us to meditate on the mysteries while we are praying the Hail Marys or whether she meant us to meditate on the mysteries right before we say the Hail Marys. The consensus seems to be that we are…Continue Reading

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Second Sunday Of Lent Readings: Gen. 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 Romans 8:31b-34 Mark 9:2-10 In the first reading today we hear about Abraham’s nearly incomprehensible act of faith and love for God shown in his willingness to sacrifice his own son. We have to be careful not to read this in a vacuum. This test, which…Continue Reading

By ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI (Wanderer Editor’s Note: Catholic News Agency on February 3 published a commentary concerning a 1989 Vatican response to dissent against Humanae Vitae. Below is an excerpted version of that commentary. Following that, we reprint the full text of the 1989 Vatican response, which, as the CNA commentary explains, is now available on the Vatican’s website. Please also…Continue Reading

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK A joke sometimes recounted among clergy goes along these lines: Someone greets a wise old priest by asking, “What’s new?”, and he responds, sagely, “Christ is risen!” The humor here is less about what’s new than about the fact that everything, other than the only true revolution of Christ’s Incarnation and triumph over death, is…Continue Reading

By CAROLE BRESLIN Great sinners make great saints. It takes a strong-willed child to become a saint. These are statements which would easily fit saints such as Mary Magdalene and St. Augustine. In the thirteenth century, a young lady free in spirit and strong in will led such a life that she was essentially driven from her home village, but…Continue Reading

By CAROLE BRESLIN In the lives of the saints one thing is very common: They have such a strong desire to do God’s will that nothing will hinder their work. Many saints, despite illness, weak health, or many other obstacles achieved their goals. Frequently the amount of work accomplished by such individuals seems humanly impossible — and, of course, it…Continue Reading